The outpatient facility was established as a treatment and research resource for a variety of studies in seven key areas which include the following: a) investigations of the "well-state"; (b) the usefulness of couples group therapy in the management of recurrent affective illness; (c) assessment of interpersonal relationships and family dynamics in bipolar families; (d) outcome studies; (e) prophylactic efficacy of various drug regimens; (f) the evaluation of genetic markers in affective illness. Preliminary results in the "well-state studies" indicate that some abnormalities found during the acute illness persist into the recovery period and may therefore reflect aspects of the predisposition to the illness. The project on couples group therapy have revealed significantly better social functioning, family interaction and mental status in those patients maintained on lithium carbonate in conjunction with couples group therapy compared to manic-depressive patients maintained adequately on lithium, but not receiving adjunct couples therapy. A longitudinal trial of the prophylactic efficacy of lithium alone vs. lithium plus tricyclic antidepressants in unipolar and bipolar affective illness is underway, but results are not yet forthcoming. Long-term outcome has been found to correlate with age of onset, rapidity of cycles and family history.